Mulan
Mulan is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the first episode of the second season. She is portrayed by guest star Jamie Chung, and does not have a Storybrooke counterpart. Mulan is based on a character of the same name from the Chinese legend, "Hua Mulan", and the titular character from the Disney film, "Mulan". History }} }} Mulan and Aurora ride away from the palace while forcing the women to follow along with their hands tied. They reach a Safe Haven where many survivors inhabit the area. Mary Margaret attempts to escape by kicking Aurora, giving Emma a head start, but Mulan throws a weapon to bring her down. Then, Emma and an unconscious Mary Margaret are thrown into a holding pit. The leader of the Safe Haven, Lancelot, wishes to speak with Emma and Mary Margaret. He recognizes Mary Margaret as Snow White and they have a warm reunion. Since Lancelot trusts them, Mulan lets down her guard, though Aurora still holds animosity towards the two women for Prince Phillip's death. She warns the princess not to confuse vengeance with justice. By Lancelot's request, Mulan accompanies Emma and Mary Margaret for their journey to an abandoned castle, which may have a portal for them to return home. After giving them weapons, they travel through the woods until nightfall approaches. While Mary Margaret is gathering materials for building a fire, Aurora—who has been secretly following the trio—attacks her out of revenge. Mulan intervenes; telling Mary Margaret to stay out of the conflict and let her speak to Aurora. Emma reacts by firing her gun in the air, which startles both Mulan and Aurora. The noise attracts ogres, so they split up until Mary Margaret takes the creature down with an arrow to the eye. When they arrive at the castle, Mulan and Aurora keep watch at the gate while Emma and Mary Margaret go inside. By chance, Cora, disguised as Lancelot, ambushes the pair inside the castle. As a battle ensues, Mulan and Aurora hear the commotion and rush to help. During the commotion, the magic wardrobe Emma and Mary Margaret planned to use for returning home is burned to ash. Stunned at Cora's trickery, Mulan is shocked that she fell for the disguise of a shape shifter all this time and is unsure what to tell the survivors at the Safe Haven. Mary Margaret suggests she should tell them the truth; that Lancelot died a heroic death. With Lancelot dead, Mulan elects Mary Margaret as the new leader to guide the survivors. Though appreciative of the title, Mary Margaret wishes to return to her own home in Storybrooke with Emma. Mulan and Aurora agree to aide them in their quest. On the way back to camp, Mulan is perplexed on how to detail to the Safe Haven residents the manner of Lancelot's death. Upon arrival, Mulan is horrified to see all the people have had their hearts ripped out. Aurora discovers a lone survivor beneath some bodies and they speak to him in order to learn how he managed to live. He talks about hiding under some of the corpses to avoid Cora, who tore out everyone's hearts, but Mulan is not buying his story. With Emma's help, Mulan ties the man to a tree to allow the approaching ogres to eat him. Finally, the man confesses to his true identity, Captain Hook. He admits to being on the same side as Cora, but asks to team up with them instead. After Emma cuts him free, Mulan holds a sword to his back as Hook leads them to the location of a beanstalk. He states the item they need to return home; a enchanted compass is at the top, but they need to get past a giant. At the base of the beanstalk, Mulan insists she should be the one to climb the beanstalk as most experienced warrior of out of all of them. Emma overrules her, and speaks to Mulan privately before making the journey up the beanstalk. She asks about the strength of her sword, and Mulan states it is the strongest sword in the land. Emma requests to be given a time limit of ten hours to get back down from the beanstalk, and if she has not returned, Mulan must cut down the beanstalk and ensure Mary Margaret goes home safely. Mulan agrees, and provides Emma with poppy dust to knock the giant out. After Emma and Hook set off, Mulan draws a line in the ground and punches a stick in the sand as a way to keep track of time. When it reaches ten hours and there is no sign of Emma, Mulan deals out a heavy blow to the stalk with her sword while Mary Margaret attempts to stop her. Mulan strongly insists it is Emma's wish she cut down the beanstalk. As the two women fight, Emma jumps down from the beanstalk in time with the compass in hand. Aurora, suffering through a side effect of the Sleeping Curse, experiences a dream in which she meets Emma's son Henry in the Netherworld. In an ambush, Cora uses the hearts of the Safe Haven victims and commands them to rise and attack. As the undead approach, Mulan and Aurora flee in one direction while Mary Margaret and Emma are left behind to face the creatures. Mulan becomes distracted after she is tackled to the ground by one undead while two others grab Aurora and kidnap her. Mulan takes off the head of the undead and regroups with Emma and Mary Margaret only to realize Cora now has Aurora. Without her, they have no way of accessing the Netherworld, so Mary Margaret asks to be put into a deep sleep to reach Henry. As they head to a nearby poppy field, a raven with a message from Cora arrives. Cora demands the compass by sundown, or risk Aurora's life. Mulan tries to take the compass by force, but Emma and Mary Margaret convince her to allow them until sundown to contact Henry and come up with a plan. She reluctantly agrees. In the field, Mulan cuts a poppy flower and crushes it into dust. Once the powder is blown in Mary Margaret, she falls asleep and travels to the Netherworld. While she is out, Mulan is not able to wait any longer and pilfers the compass to deliver it to Cora. On the way there, the two women catch up to her. Mary Margaret tackles Mulan to the ground and savagely threatens to finish her with an arrow. Mulan stubbornly refuses to hand over the compass, so Mary Margaret moves in for the kill when Aurora arrives to break up the altercation. From Mary Margaret's previous communication with David in the Netherworld, they learn the key to defeating Cora is some squid ink located in Rumplestiltskin's old cell, and continue on their expedition. As they arrive and venture into the underground jail beneath the ruins of the palace, Mulan uses her torch to search the cell for any sign of the squid ink. After Aurora finds a note written by Rumplestiltskin with Emma's name scribbled on it, Mulan discovers an empty small glass vial with no ink inside. Suddenly, Aurora entraps them in the cell, to which Cora parades in with Hook to reveal she is in possession of the girl's heart. After the two leave to make their way to Storybrooke, Mulan apologizes to Aurora for allowing Cora to get her heart. While stuck with no way out, Mary Margaret recalls seeing Cora use magic in a certain manner and realizes the squid ink is on the parchment with Emma's name. She demonstrates its power by blowing the ink dust onto the cell handle bars, which melt away. Aurora insists Cora still has too much power over her and asks to be left behind. Reluctantly, Mulan ties her to the remnants of the jail cell and hurries off with Emma and Mary Margaret to Lake Nostos. Just as Cora and Hook prepare to jump into the portal, Mulan, Emma and Mary Margaret do their best to fight their way through. With her sword blade, Mulan deflects Cora's incoming magic. Though she moves to attack, Cora vanishes into a puff of smoke. Aurora's heart nearly falls into the portal, but Hook makes a grab and tosses it back to Mulan. While Emma prepares to battle Hook, Mary Margaret directs Mulan to go and give Aurora her heart. Before she leaves, Mulan hands her sword to Mary Margaret for magic deflection. After returning to the cell, she inserts the heart into Aurora's chest. Aurora shares information on the whereabouts of Prince Phillip's soul, which she was told by Cora, and that he can possibly be revived. They set off to find a way to bring him back. Using unknown means, Mulan and Aurora manage to retrieve and restore Phillip's soul. By the beach's shoreline, the trio come across an unconscious man. They take him back to the palace and tend to his injuries as Mulan keeps a close watch on the stranger. Upon awakening, she asks who he is, to which the man responds with his name, Neal. Her companions, Aurora and Prince Phillip, rush over to inspect the stranger. Neal is stunned to learn that he is in the Enchanted Forest. This causes Aurora to think he's a native of this land, but Mulan points out his clothes are foreign and similar to Emma and Mary Margaret's. At the mention of Emma's name, Neal tries to explain that he needs to save her from harm. When he brings up Henry, Aurora recognizes him as the boy's father and promises to help find his son in the Netherworld. While she does that, Mulan and Neal engage in light conversation. She learns he thought of the Enchanted Forest while falling into the portal, which brought him home. Aurora's attempt fails, so Neal decides to go to his father's old castle to look for something that might help reach his loved ones. Mulan accompanies him for the journey. Curiously, she asks why Emma never mentioned him before. Neal confesses he broke Emma's heart by letting her go to fulfill the breaking of the Dark Curse, and after it was finished with, fear of rejection kept himself from coming back to her. Mulan remarks that his belief in love wasn't strong enough to overcome rejection, which Neal says is the greatest regret of his life. Inside the castle, they meet a man named Robin Hood who has claimed the building as his own. Robin Hood allows them access upon learning that Neal is Rumplestiltskin's son Baelfire as he has an owed debt to the Dark One. From a brief search, Neal opens a hidden door with his father's old cane and tries to activate a crystal ball, which doesn't work. Mulan suggests to think about how he feels about Emma, and that will guide him to see her. Neal follows her instructions, and the crystal ball shows him an image of Emma in Neverland. Panicking over finding another pathway to Neverland, Neal searches all over the castle for something that could be of use, but to no avail. Just then, three of Robin Hood's allies from their group the Merry Men enter into the castle. From beneath the leading man, Little John, a four-year old boy, Roland, crawls out and runs into Robin Hood's arms. Neal finds out the child is Robin Hood's son, to which he suddenly comes up with the idea of how to traverse worlds. He suggests using Robin Hood's son, Roland, to use a summoning incantation to call the Shadow from Neverland, so Mulan helps to prepare the room for the operation. At nightfall, Little John brings Roland back to Robin Hood. To make sure, Robin Hood asks his son if he remembers what words to speak out loud, to which Roland begins to enunciate them, but is hastily stopped by everyone. When the Shadow bursts in to take Roland, Mulan jumps in and severs the arm of the Shadow holding onto the boy. The moment allows Neal time to grab onto the Shadow, and hitch a free ride back to Neverland. As Neal is taken away, Mulan, Robin Hood and Roland watch him and the Shadow disappear in the sky. Later, Robin Hood offers Mulan a chance to join his Merry Men. Mulan appreciates the offer, but urgently has to talk to someone first before it's too late. Knowingly, Robin Hood believes she means a loved one, though she smiles and replies only time will tell. She rushes to the palace to approach Aurora. After making sure they are alone, Mulan announces that she has news to share. Coincidentally, so does Aurora, who excitedly confirms she and Prince Phillip are expecting their first child. Mulan reacts with shock, but quickly congratulates her. Recovering from her stupor, Mulan changes her mind about what she wanted to say and hastily states her intent to join Robin Hood's band of Merry Men. Leaving abruptly, Mulan turns to walk away with a saddened expression on her face. At nightfall, she arrives at Robin Hood's camp, and accepts a place with the Merry Men. }} Trivia |-|Character Notes= Etymology *The name "Mulan" is of Mandarin Chinese origin derived from the words "mu" and "lan" that respectively mean "wood" and "orchid". By itself, "Mulan" means "lily magnolia".http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=1&wdqb=%E6%9C%A8%E8%98%AD Character Notes *Mulan is the first character on the show to be derived from a legend rather than a traditional fairy tale, modern fairy tale or myth. *Mulan wears armor, with her face and hair covered, in her first appearance in "Broken", to which Aurora mistakes her for a man. This alludes to the original tale of Mulan where she pretended to be a man to take her father's place in the army. |-|Production Notes= Production Notes *The casting call described her as, "Female, Asian. Early to mid 20s. A warrior first and foremost, she could hold her own against a swordsman or even a king. She is trained in weaponry, tracking and riding, but has a spirituality that enhances her tactical and strategic abilities.http://www.onceuponatimefans.co.uk/apps/blog/show/16334339-episode-2-01-full-casting-call *The casting call name for her was "Magnolia".http://www.spoilertv.com/2012/06/once-upon-time-episode-201-2-new.html *Her armor outfit, designed by show costume designer Eduardo Castro, is made out of five-hundred metal belt conchas.http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20736009_20641925,00.html Appearances Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage. References es:Mulan de:Mulan fr:Mulan it:Mulan nl:Mulan Category:Female Characters Category:Season Two Characters Category:Season Three Characters Category:Season Five Characters Category:Once Upon a Time Characters